Coronavirus: New cases decline slightly after record-breaking day

The pace of new COVID-19 cases in California slowed slightly on Friday, with 3,717 new cases reported, down from a record-breaking 4,165 new cases on Wednesday.

California has now had 170.727 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The state also reported 67 new fatalities from the virus, for a total of 5,422 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Despite the slowdown, the number of new cases in the state are still rising overall after seeming to have plateaued in mid-May. Friday’s numbers were down from Wednesday and Thursday but still high enough to make it the fourth-worst day ever for new cases in California. The 67 COVID-19 deaths reported were slightly higher than the seven-day rolling average of 62.4. Deaths in the state have remained mostly flat since lay May.

One-third of the new cases and more than half of the deaths — 1,382 and 36, respectively — were in Los Angeles County. It was followed by Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego for most new cases. The rate of positive new tests in Los Angeles County has also been rising, from a weekly average of 5 percent in early May to 10 percent so far this week.

Although Los Angeles County has the most cases total, Imperial County has the highest rate adjusted for population — 247.5 per 10,000 residents. The county has an overall testing positive rate of 20 percent, according to data collected by this news organization. Kings County, which has the second-most cases adjusted for population at 130.8 per 10,000 residents, has an overall positive rate of 15 percent.

Alameda County reported the most new cases in the Bay Area on Friday, with 64 new cases and one new death for a total of 4,702 cases and 118 deaths since the start of the pandemic. San Mateo County reported four new deaths and Contra Costa County reported one. No other Bay Area counties reported any COVID-19 deaths.

Statewide, the number of patients hospitalized with a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 ticked up by three to 4,587 on Thursday, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. The number of patients in intensive care unit beds with confirmed of suspected cases of COVID-19 also increased by 31 to 1,329.

Statewide, California reported 81,172 COVID-19 tests on Thursday, a 2.6 percent increase from the previous day.

The pandemic has hit particularly hard residents of color, including in heavily Latinx neighborhoods in the Bay Area such as East San Jose. Statewise, almost 57 percent of COVID-19 cases have been Latinx residents, although they only make up about 39 percent of the population. And 9.5 percent of COVID-19 deaths have been Black residents, who make up 6 percent of the population.